The fallout from a devastating avalanche on Mount Everest that ended the lives of 16 Nepalese guides on April 18 has caused expedition teams to cancel their summit attempt, ending or suspending the dreams of many who had hoped to reach the world's highest point.

An emotional hangover, safety concerns and a business climate that is suddenly unstable have all weighed heavily on the minds of expedition teams that have to balance the inherent risks of mountain climbing with the ambitions of clients who have paid sometimes upwards of $75,000 for a shot at Mount Everest's peak.

Many Nepalese guides, known as sherpas, have decided to walk away from the mountain this season to honor colleagues who lost their lives, and many have demanded higher compensation for the danger they face in preparing routes for mostly Western climbers. Without sherpas to set up routes and carry equipment, climbing Everest becomes much more difficult than it already is. Some expedition leaders are also unsure the route is safe; going ahead with an expedition would mean leading clients through the area where the avalanche happened.

"[Clients] put a lot of time and energy and passion to go ahead and make this climb," Gordon Janow, director of programs for Alpine Ascents International, which called off their Spring Everest expedition, told Mashable. "I’m sure there are mixed emotions about that." Later, he added, “All of a sudden, you’re standing there thinking ‘what’s the right thing to do?' balancing your own desires with the sense of compassion that’s emerged there."

Alpine Ascents considered whether anything positive could come from going ahead with the climb, but Janow said their team on the mountain eventually decided that the dark cloud hovering over Everest expeditions was too great and that they couldn't continue in good faith.

"It just did not feel like the right thing to do," Janow said.

RMI Expeditions, another Everest tour company, nixed their attempt on Wednesday after deciding the risks outweighed any potential positives.

"This week has been a roller coaster of emotion for many of us, from the horror that came with the avalanche of April 18, to the confusion that followed it regarding the right course to take for balancing respect for the dead, concern for team safety and summit ambitions," Dave Hahn, J.J. Justman, Billy Nugent and Mark Tucker, all guides at RMI, posted on the company's blog. "Following the accident, our list of serious obstacles to an Everest summit was always significant, but we believed it worthwhile to continue looking for some way forward." They tried, but said the prospect of success was too dim.

Tim Rippel, who owns Peak Freak Expeditions, also scrapped his company's season. He doesn't believe the route is safe, he wrote on the company's blog on Wednesday, and pointed out that his team gets paid to provide safety guidance while climbing. The company has halted expeditions on other mountains due to what he believes are similar conditions to what is happening around the Khumbu Icefall, where the avalanche occurred.

"We've cancelled expeditions before to save lives," Rippel wrote. "This is not new to us."

Rippel also wrote that his company will "tread lightly" on future trips to Everest, a sentiment that may already be spreading to more of the expedition community.

Bill Allen, who owns Mountain Trip and is also a guide for the company, told Mashable his team is already thinking about climbing exclusively from the mountain's north side, opposite of the area where the avalanche occurred. Mountain Trip didn't have any climbers on the south side of Everest at the time of the tragedy, but Allen's team has been there before.

Reevaluating how expedition companies take on Everest is a good thing to do in light of the tragedy, Allen said. He's glad teams have pulled out for the season, but says it will take some time for the situation to sort itself out and for expedition companies to evaluate what's best going forward.

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